Refugees Cause Problem in France

March 21, 1938

PARIS (Mar. 20)

The increasing number of refugees from Austria is already resulting in a problem for the central Jewish organizations here, which foresee its considerable extension when the Nazis finally open the frontiers and permit an exodus of Austrian Jews.

The Federation of Jewish Societies of France held a conference today to consider steps to be taken on behalf of the refugees.

Meanwhile, feeling against foreigners is running high in France. Circulars were distributed advocating a strong campaign against foreign Jews. They bear the signature of Jean Charles Legran, leader of the French Front. Police prohibited Legran’s scheduled mass meeting.

Among refugees from Vienna are Dina Kaus, German-Jewish author who last year visited the United States, and Wolfgang von Weisl, Austrian Zionist Revisionist leader. The family of Jacob Lestchinsky, Polish-Jewish economist and statistician, succeeded in leaving Vienna and is now in Zurich, Switzerland, it was learned.

Two American Jews, Felix and William Ekhard, formerly of New York, told of fleeing Vienna after being warned that they would be arrested for allegedly supporting the Fatherland Front. They are being assisted by the HIAS-ICA Emigration Association to go to New York. Their families are remaining.

The Joint Distribution Committee and other central organizations have received S.O.S. messages from Praha relief bodies for funds to assist the increasing number of refugees entering Czechoslovakia illegally. The J.D.C. and other organizations, including the World Jewish Congress, have dispatched representatives to Vienna to study the situation there. It is quite evident that large-scale preparations by Jewish organizations are necessary in Paris and London to assist the refugees once the frontiers have been opened.